Willow Smith says she 'Felt a Lot of Pressure' sustaining her parent's legacy

Willow had to fight in pursuit of happiness.

Singer Willow Smith opened up about the pressure she felt while growing up as a child of her legendary parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett. During a conversation with Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe, Willow spoke about the struggles she faced in trying to find her true identity all her life, but now at 20, she’s learning to “find her freedom.”

"I always just wanted to do right by my parents, and do right by the beauty that they have put in the world, and continue to uplift that beauty and to uphold that beauty," she explained to Zane. "And I felt a lot of pressure. And, because I'm not a minor anymore."

"I'm finding the freedom to, I can put that beauty in the world. I can uphold that energy," she added. "And so I'm just figuring that out in all of these different ways, and it's going to be a journey and there's more to come."

The 20-year-old also touched on the topic of post-fame after her Whip My Hair era when she shaved her head to bring an end to its tour in 2010. Willow revealed in the episode that the time after that was super dark for her and she also indulged in self-harming.

"I honestly feel like I lost my sanity at one point," Willow confessed. "It was after that whole 'Whip My Hair' thing and I had just like stopped doing singing lessons and I was kind of in this gray area of, 'Who am I? Do I have a purpose? Is there anything I can do besides this?'"

Willow further added that she’s anxious to release her punk-rock project after her previous albums that became her brand.

"I'm in a place of disbelief right now. For so much of my musical career, I was just overthinking everything, and being so just stressed about things that really I didn't need to stress about,” she added.